College for "Knowledge Work"

At Maine East we definitely cultivate a "college culture" among faculty and staff.  During the week of the annual District 207 College Fair, faculty and staff are encouraged to wear clothes representing their alma mater or some other college or university.  Same during the early college application week.  Same every first Wednesday of every month. (Truth be told - you don't have to ask most teachers twice if they want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt to school!) 

Of course, the rationale behind this promotion of college as the logical and best "next step" after high school is that we know some things about material success and its direct relationship to levels of education.

This is one proverbial "carrot on the stick" that provides a very significant economic reason for pursuing a college diploma, and, by doing so, more (materially) rewarding  work.

Of course there is much more to college than earning a piece of paper that gives you entrance to interviews for well-paying jobs.  I firmly believe in a liberal college education, that is an education that exposes the student to a world of humanities and possibilities, leads to an enriched life of lifelong learning, critical literacy, a humanistic outlook, a desire to serve others, and an appreciation for the fine arts.  I hope both my sons go to college and receive these kinds of "bonus gifts."

As a teacher, I was particularly interested in what Matt Crawford had to say about promoting college as a post-secondary option:

So what advice should one give to a young person?  If you have a natural bent for scholarship; if you are attracted to the most difficult books out of an urgent need, and can spare four years to devote yourself to them, go to college.  In fact, approach college in the spirit of craftsman ship, going deep into the liberal arts and sciences. (53)

This aligns pretty closely with what I thought.  The thing is, Crawford also warns against going to college for the wrong reasons:

But if this is not the case; if the thought of four more years sitting in a classroom makes your skin crawl, the good news is you don't have to go through the motions and jump through the hoops for the sake of making a decent living. (53)

In this section of the book, Crawford literally "goes to work" by recounting his experiences as a motorcycle mechanic and a knowledge worker at Information Access Company (now part of Gale/Cengage).  

For Crawford, a "decent living" was something he expected after he earned his Masters Degree.  He sought work that would put his mind to work in the knowledge sector as a writer of abstracts of professional journal articles.  He describes his introduction to his work space at IAC in romantic terms:

As I was shown to my cubicle . . . I felt a real sense of being honored.  They had made a place for me . . . It was my desk, where I would think my own thoughts . . . these thoughts would be my unique contribution to a common enterprise . . .  (131)

This idealism would change for Crawford as reality set in - he found his work reduced to surreal isolation, reaching quotas, and a lack of quality control.  His attitude toward the work became antagonistic and he became especially frustrated at not being able to see the fruit of his labor directly contributing to a greater good.

The motorcycle shop was a different matter.  During his summers and also part-time when he was a student, Crawford would work as an apprentice mechanic.  As Crawford took on more and more projects, especially on older models (like a 1983 Honda Magna v45) that required problem-solving skills and experience to diagnose problems and map a plan for repair, he found himself totally invested and committed to the final product.  In the end, the motorcycle will either run well, run poorly, or not run at all.  The proof and affirmation of his work was definitive and real.  He saw within this professional work something lacking in the cubicle: creative satisfaction.

The so-called promise offered to the "knowledge worker" holding a college degree may lead to a new kind of assembly-line banality.  Crawford's warning is at the heart of his message to those who may be looking for something else.  

So . . . about those college plans . . .